Abstract: Documents, covering the period 1890-1985, of the family of Clayton Eshleman, writer, editor and translator. Includes correspondence
between Clayton and his parents and between Clayton and his first wife Barbara; an extensive collection of family photographs;
the family's school, church and financial records; and scrapbooks from Clayton's childhood.
The papers are arranged in seven series: 1) FAMILY RECORDS, 2) DIARIES AND NOTEBOOKS, 3) DRAWINGS, 4) SCRAPBOOKS, 5) PHOTOGRAPHS,
6) CORRESPONDENCE, AND 7) EPHEMERA.

Repository:
University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.

La Jolla, California 92093-0175

Collection number: MSS 0177

Language of Material:
Collection materials in English

Access

The scrapbooks in Box 3 (Folders 8, 10, and 12) are restricted because of their fragile condition. Researchers should use
the photocopy scrapbooks provided in those folders.

Clayton Eshleman, reknowned poet, translator, and editor, was born June 1, 1935, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the only child
of Gladys and Ira Eshleman. His childhood was spent in Indianapolis,and he attended the University of Indiana. After graduating
from the university, he travelled to Mexico, Central and South America, and Japan.

During his early years, Eshleman was a musician, boy scout, and football star. He first majored in Music at Indiana University
but eventually changed his program to Philosophy, earning a degree in that field in 1958. In 1961 he received a Master of
Arts for Teachers from Indiana University, married Barbara Novak, and had his first book of poetry, MEXICO AND NORTH, published.
Eshleman spent the next three years in Japan, teaching and studying. In 1965 the Eshlemans moved to Lima, Peru, where their
son Matthew was born in 1966. That same year, the family moved to New York City, and soon after, Eshleman separated from his
wife and child.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection documents the family background and early years of Clayton Eshleman, American post-war writer, editor, and
translator. The documents also shed light on the transition from the 1950s to the 1960s, a period in which Clayton Eshleman,
like many young Americans at the time, rejected the values and lifestyles of the previous generation, crossed former boundaries,
and, in doing so, helped to create a new American culture. This break would be essential to Eshleman's development as an artist,
and exploring the rupture would be a constant theme part of his later work as a translator of international poets and editor
of the influential journal SULFUR.

The Eshleman Family Papers document to some degree Clayton Eshleman's development as a writer. Several facets of the process
are reflected in the collection. The young Clayton Eshleman, seen in the SCRAPBOOKS (1940-57) compiled by his mother, is
a boy scout, newspaper carrier, church member, and football and track star. College papers, included in the series FAMILY
RECORDS - SCHOOL, show his developing interest in poetry. PHOTOGRAPHS and CORRESPONDENCE of the decade following his graduation
from college show his marriage to home-state university sweetheart Barbara Novak and an expressed belief in "commitment" to
family as well as to work. The collection contains one portrait of his second wife Caryl and another of his son Matthew as
an adolescent, but the papers in effect end with the dissolution of his first marriage and his abandonment of the values of
his childhood. Clayton's essay in CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS (included in the series FAMILY RECORDS - BIOGRAPHICAL) provides a
written narrative to these documents and reveals the importance that Clayton gave to his early years.

The first series, FAMILY RECORDS, is divided into five subseries: 1A) Biographical, 1B) Financial, 1C) Medical, 1D) Church,
and 1E) School. The Biographical subseries contains a family memoir of Clayton's grandfather Joseph Eshleman and Clayton's
essay in the CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS AUTOBIOGRAPHY SERIES. The Financial subseries contains Clayton's father Ira's extensive
records of family income and expenditures, organized by decade, as well as receipts from Clayton's childhood financial endeavors.
The Medical Records contain Clayton's birth certificate and recent doctor's notes. The Church Records include Clayton's baptism
record, degrees from Vacation Bible School, and the family's church membership. The School records include Ira Eshleman's
1914 application to Purdue University and Clayton's elementary report cards, high school and university diplomas, and college
papers on literary subjects.

The second series, DIARIES AND NOTEBOOKS, contains diaries kept by Clayton's mother Gladys during her pregnancy with Clayton;
a few pages of notes by Clayton while in Houston, Texas, and Mexico; and his father's records from the slaughterhouse where
he worked.

In the third series, DRAWINGS, are cartoons made by Clayton as a child.

The fourth series, SCRAPBOOKS, are three large memento books kept by Clayton's mother from his early childhood through high
school. They include cards received and sent by Clayton, drawings, Boy Scout records, football and band notices, and photographs.

Of special interest is fifth series; the extensive PHOTOGRAPHS series. The series documents the middle-class life of Clayton
and his parents during the period 1920-1950, as well as the late-nineteenth century, rural, midwestern lives of his grandparents.
Two tintypes are contained in the series.

The sixth series, CORRESPONDENCE, is largely comprised of letters written during the early 1960s when Clayton was first away
from Indiana for long periods of time. It also includes a 1918 employment letter to Clayton's father, a telegram from Clayton
in Lima, Peru, to his parents announcing the birth of his son Matthew, and a telegram from Clayton in Florida to his mother
reporting that he had been robbed "in a Cuban hotel" and asking her to wire money soon.

Personal items such as a stained Mexican newspaper, a napkin from Clayton and Barbara's marriage, and Clayton's numerology
chart, make up the seventh series, EPHEMERA.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.